Questions & Answers about U zoru je grad tih i miran.
Why is "zoru" in the accusative case here instead of the locative?
When the preposition u is used to express when something happens (like days of the week or specific times of day), it usually takes the accusative case. Since zora (dawn) is a feminine noun, it becomes zoru. The locative case with u is mostly reserved for talking about physical locations.
Why is the verb je placed before the subject grad?
The word je is an enclitic (a short, unstressed word) and must take the second position in a Croatian sentence. The entire prepositional phrase U zoru acts as a single block occupying the first position. Therefore, je has to come immediately after it, pushing the subject grad further down the sentence.
Could I say "grad je tihi i mirni" instead?
No, you should stick to tih i miran. Because the adjectives are telling us what the city is (acting as the predicate after the verb to be), Croatian requires the indefinite (short) form. The definite forms (tihi and mirni) are used when the adjective comes directly before the noun to identify it, like in tihi grad (the quiet city).
Why does miran have an 'a' before the 'n', but the definite form mirni doesn't?
The 'a' in miran is what's called a "fleeting a." It gets inserted into the basic masculine singular form to make the consonant cluster easier to pronounce. As soon as you add an ending—like making it definite (mirni) or feminine (mirna)—that 'a' disappears. The word tih doesn't need a fleeting 'a' because it ends in a single consonant and is already easy to say.
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